Bleach: All for the Darkness
by Tommo2304
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia, two souls who appear to have never met before. One man called Urahara, the catalyst who has brought them together in search of something. As they look, darker forces begin to scheme in the shadows...please check it out!


All for the Darkness

"This is supposed to be just a game!" Ichigo screams to Rukia, looking through a golden coloured treasure box. He picks up a slick black pistol with a mugen symbol engraved on the grip and loads it. "How did I know Urahara had a game that tried to kill you!?" Rukia replies, picking up a solid white pair of chakrams in her hands and spinning them around. Stampeding around the room, the orange haired boy turned to her sharply, his hands high in the air, his face crazed.

'I…I don't even know who you are!' he cried out, the girl trying to calm him down. Sighing, the boy looked over the pistol once more, gulping, swallowing hard. He was sweating, the room around him pitch black save for the warm glow of the golden treasure chest. It was opaque and ornately decorated, with pictures of, what looked like, people dressed in funny costumes. Reaching out into the shadows, Ichigo found what he thought to be a wall and slumped against it.

'I don't know of any Uraharas.' he moped. Rukia pulled the note from her pocket, the one that told them of the game they had been thrust into.

'He said if we find a way to open the box we will be set free. Urahara is the one who wrote the letter, he is the one who designed this, this place!' she snapped, wriggling the letter about his face. Ichigo snatched it from her, eyeing it up and down, up and down before finally handing it back and sinking down to the ground.

'Some game…' he sighed, kicking a random rock on the floor. Rukia placed her hands on her hips and walked about, feeling the walls for some kind of exit. Deciding to help, Ichigo stood and did the same, one hand in his pocket with the gun, the other tapping against the walls. They sounded wooden, and hollow. Suddenly, he punched one and it splintered, his fist smashing straight through, his eyes wide. Laughing, Rukia dashed over and helped him pull apart the wall, opening their eyes, blinking to the room next to it. It looked like a corridor.

'You sure you want to go down there?' Rukia asked, uncertain, Ichigo already making a move.

'I'd rather not be stuck down here with some random stranger.' he grumbled, the girl sighing, shaking her head. Clambering through the gap, she tottered after him into the darkness, her weapons dangling by her side. Looking at them, she narrowed her eyes, her hair down by her nose.

'_Why Urahara? Why these, I don't even know how to use them! Where is my zanpaktou?'_ she thought to herself, the whole situation entirely unfathomable. '_And who is this boy…? What does he have to do with whatever plans you might have…?_'

'_Just remember Miss Kuchiki…' Urahara said, pulling his hat down over his eyes, handing the girl a small letter, written on torn brown paper in scruffy, rushed handwriting. '…don't let the boy out of your sight. No matter what, he must open that box.' _

She had remembered him saying all of this, though she didn't believe it would lead to such an event. Following Kurosaki down the hallway, she stopped fast, almost crashing into him as he came to a sudden halt. Looking past him, she saw his eyes were following a tall flight of wooden stairs, at the top, an exit, the blue sky shimmering down. Ichigo chuckled to himself, grinning, a smug smile on his face as he made his way towards the first step.

'I knew it. There had to be an exit somewhere!' he jeered, dashing up the stairs. However, the closer he came to the blue, cloudless sky, the further away it seemed. The more the sunlight seemed to dim, the more he began to realise the truth. He could touch the sky. Merely, he could touch the painting of the sky. It was a painting, on the roof, with stairs leading to it.

'This…this whole place…it's all for us?' Rukia gasped, Ichigo clenching his fists and punching the roof.

'It looked so real!' roared Ichigo, a fit of rage taking over and he pulled the pistol from his pocket, blasting the picture, splinters shooting down towards them, Kuchiki crying out in anger and shock as the blasts rocketed the cavernous room. Suddenly there came a loud cracking noise and they looked to the side, the corner of the room splitting, chunks and planks of wood crashing down. Ichigo watched as a piece of concrete fell towards him but he was suddenly whisked aside, Rukia reappearing with him outside of the room, the roof caving in, blocking off every conceivable exit, dust rising in the now debris filled chamber.

'Good work.' she said sarcastically, straightening herself up and moving on down the corridor, her head turned away from Ichigo, the boy dropping the gun in sheer terror of what he had just done.

'How…how did you move like that? You saved my life!' choked the boy, the girl swinging her black hair from her brow. The girl kept walking, her tiny figure almost becoming lost in the darkness at the end of the hallway.

'I will tell all when the time is right, Ichigo.' she said cryptically, Ichigo grunting, jogging to catch up. 'Now though…' she said, turning to face him, her face alive with fear, her eyes quivering, the whites of them looking like glass. '…I think we should return to the treasure chest. It has to be our ticket out.'

Returning to the room, it was still aglow with the golden shine, almost like a pulse within the darkness. Making his way to the box, Ichigo held out his hand, but suddenly, Rukia grabbed it fiercely, the boy wincing. Looking down at her, he saw in her eyes an emotion he hadn't ever seen before, her hair was moving, as if some kind of wind was picking up around her.

'This is bad. We shouldn't open it Ichigo.' she said hoarsely.

'Why? You just said to -…' he began but she interrupted, snapping at him.

'I've been a Shinigami for centuries, I can feel evil reiatsu…!' but she stopped herself before revealing anymore. Ichigo pretended not to here and pulled his arm away from the treasure chest reluctantly.

'_Shinigami? Reiatsu? Just who the hell are you woman?_' Ichigo thought to himself, pondering the meanings of these words as watched Rukia sigh and watch the box in front of her. She too however was in her own trail of thought, her eyes boring into the chest, wondering of its contents.

'_What is the meaning of these games, Urahara? Why do you keep leading us so desperately back here? What is in this chest that is so important, and why do we need these weapons!?_' she cursed, thinking to herself solemnly. Suddenly, she was woken from her stupour as she heard Ichigo calling out to her.

'Hey! Woman, come quick!' he yelled, the girl dashing towards his voice. 'I've found something!'

Whistling light heartedly, Urahara Kisuke waltzed to the front door of his shop, a days groceries under his arm. Muttering to himself, he pushed his hat up upon his forehead, moving some of his blonde hair aside.

'What's this?' he whispered to himself, the dust and smoke rising from a window in his store. Opening the door with a bang, he placed the bag on a counter and eyed the hole in the floor, his sandals making a noise on the wooden floorboards every time he moved.

'Hmm…' he looked darkly down into the abyss before setting off into the basement, sword in hand.

Underground, Ichigo was standing, hunched over a shadowy object lying on the floor in what looked like a closet. Rukia found him and peered in, the boy's face wide with fright and surprise. Wondering, she took a closer look and gasped too. It was a corpse, lying on the ground, blood stains splattered on the walls around it, its mouth lolling open. To be more precise, it was a skeleton, draped in what looked like the tattered remains of a shihakusho. Turning, Ichigo ran for it. Rukia looked, but the doors closed in front of the boy suddenly, everywhere was instantly blocked off. Now they were trapped with this golden treasure chest and the skeleton in the closet.

'What is going on here!?' demanded Ichigo, his hands wrapped around the treasure chest. Frantically looking around, Rukia suddenly thought of something and checked the warrior's sash. Nothing but an empty sheathe. Then, she noticed it, the familiar sparkle of a zanpaktou in the corner of her eye, sticking out of the ground, somewhere behind Ichigo. Grinning to herself, she made her way towards it, reaching out for the hilt, throwing her chakras aside, their clatter ringing throughout the subterranean labyrinth.

'What are you…?' Ichigo asked as the girl placed her fingers around the hilt. Suddenly, her eyes widened as blood erupted from her chest, tearing her up all the way to her shoulder, the girl lifted from the ground. Ichigo's eyes wavered as she fell to the floor. It seemed to take an age for the girl to drop, her eyes empty and facing Ichigo, the impact on the hard wood made even more so apparent by the splatter of blood that followed, the sword still stuck in the ground. Rushing over to her, Ichigo placed his hand on her arm, looking around.

'Hey, are you alright!?' he cried, his face contorted as he looked her over. 'Wake up!' he shouted.

'_Break the box Ichigo._' she wheezed, her eyes fluttering open. Looking down at her, he shook his head furiously, sweat rolling from his forehead at the proposal, but the girl asked him to do so again and he stopped breathing for a split second as he turned his head, staring at the sword in the ground.

'I don't…' he said again, almost as if he were trying to resist some kind of pull to the sword.

'_Do it. We cannot escape otherwise._' she coughed with remarkable ease considering the damage she had just taken. Nodding at last, Ichigo stood, ready to take the sword from the ground.

In the room with the stairs, Urahara rushed in, bursting down the door. He saw the collapsed roof and turned to leave before suddenly noticing something else on the ground. Lying by his foot was a piece of the painted wood, his eyes widening as he saw his reflection in the painting. Cursing, he fled the room, headed for the golden treasure chest, unsheathing his zanpaktou.

Walking slowly towards the sword, Ichigo grasped it in one hand, the hilt trembling within his grip. Rukia watched in slow amazement as he pulled it free, her eyes returning to normal and she spluttered, coughing up blood as the boy unsheathed the blade from the ground.

'_How was he able to remove it so easily? I was defeated…he is just a human!_' she thought to herself, doubling over from the pain, blacking out, her arm rolling outwards into the pool of blood. Turning to face her, Ichigo watched as a message was suddenly spelled out to him, written within the girl's blood.

YOU HAVE THE SWORD, NOW IT'S TIME TO BREAK THE BOX.

Deciding now was the time, Ichigo hoped to be free of this 'game'. Striding up to the glowing treasure chest, his heart was in his mouth, his breathing now unnatural as he was skipping beats, the cold of the sword in his sweaty palms as he raised it above his head, the glow from the box emanating onto him. Swinging with all his might, Ichigo struck the chest just as the door was flung open, Urahara stumbling in, his sword by his side, his hand outstretched.

'Stop, Ichigo!' he cried but it was too late. In a flash, Ichigo was thrown backwards, slumping against the wall alongside Rukia. Kisuke covered his eyes as the chest dissembled itself, its walls becoming golden sparks which fluttered off into the air. Urahara watched as Ichigo's eyes opened slowly, the two of them observing the rising dust coming from the podium the chest was on, no one able to see the contents. Suddenly, their attention was diverted as they heard a rattling sound from inside the closet. Ichigo was then thrown into what he felt was a nightmare as the skeleton emerged from the closet, standing on its own two feet, its garb trailing from its bones.

'Amazing isn't it? How easily the mind can be warped.' the skeleton said coolly, Urahara narrowing his eyes. Turning to Ichigo, the un dead held its hand up to him, shaking its skull. 'I can't have you as a witness.' it rattled and a blast of red light erupted from its bony fingertips, striking the boy in the chest again, knocking him unconscious beside Rukia's body. Now that they were both out cold, the creature turned its attention to Urahara who held his sword up.

'I could have guessed it would be you…' he whispered darkly as the skeletal figure began to melt away, replaced by a young man with curly brown hair, glasses perched scholarly on his nose, a cocky smile on his pale face. He was wearing the black kimono of a lieutenant and he stood tall and proud beside the podium, his brown eyes occasionally flicking to it. '…Aizen.'

'I'm flattered.' the man replied dangerously, his glasses flashing.

'Not wearing your captain haori? I suppose you haven't been it for that long have you?' Urahara said calmly, but his hands were shaking. Flicking some hair from his face, Aizen laughed deeply.

'I simply didn't want to cause a stir by bringing it.' he grinned as he clicked his fingers. Around them, the entire room shattered like glass as he held his sword in the air in front of him, his face greedy and callous as the power erupted around them both. In reality they were in a dingy room, like a cave, only the podium remaining.

'I must say you are an efficient man to have built this _underneath _the training facility. Or are you simply bored from all these years in exile?' the man said, holding his arms out. 'Did you really think I wouldn't find it here?' he said, lowering his glasses to stare into Urahara's eyes.

Kisuke didn't reply, his face was now fixed firmly on the podium, the smoke clearing completely, Aizen ready to collect his prize.

'All this was done by my Kyoka Suigetsu. Absolute hypnosis. I made Kuchiki Rukia believe you handed her the letter to come here when it was I all along. I then captured Kurosaki and placed him here. I knew it was that one. I knew he could break…' he said, his eyes filling with the lust for power as he reached out onto the podium and lifted in his fingers a small, purple sphere that glinted ominously within the light.

'…the seal on the Hogyoku!' he sneered, facing Urahara. 'Everything was perfect. I placed a zanpaktou in this room and purposefully stopped the girl from taking it myself. It had to be Ichigo, no one else has such raw, untamed reiatsu.'

'Why give them those weapons?' Urahara asked, pondering the answer. Placing his glasses back up his nose, Aizen laughed to himself, nodding his head slowly.

'Yes, why? I stripped Rukia of her powers by lending her weapons I knew she could never use. Her zanpaktou remains in Soul Society. And the boy? The gun was to bring out the worst in him, the anger necessary to produce the amount of reiatsu needed to shatter the seal. It all worked like a charm when he saw the 'exit'.'

'The painting…yes, that's how I figured you were here. I could see my reflection in that painting Aizen, I knew it was your mirror.' Urahara theorised, the man looking most displeased at this revelation. Making a sound of disgust, Aizen threw him the Hogyoku, Urahara suddenly surprised.

'I don't need it. I only wanted the seal to be broken. Now it can't be sealed again, Kisuke.

You know that. Right now, the Hogyoku is at its most unstable. If I were to keep an uncontrolled possession of it, well…' he jeered, laughing to himself. '…I'd have to join Hirako and the others in their little party as outcasts and that's not what I want right now. All I wanted was for the seal to be broken so I can take it when ready.' he grinned, looking up into the sky, the roof eroding away, chunks of rock dropping in on them, Urahara's grip tightening around the orb. In the air, the sky now visible, two doors opened and Aizen began to ascend, his hair blowing violently around his face, his glasses shimmering in the sunlight.

'I will return soon. The plan is set Urahara. You cannot stop it. Now though I must return to Seireitei. At least some of us are still allowed to set foot in the doors.' he said coldly before the portal shut on him and Urahara was left speechless, the roof closing up again.

Upstairs, Urahara set Rukia down on a table, the girl still unconscious. Ichigo had left home a long time ago, Urahara wiping his memory for now, consoling him with free sweets. Looking from the girl to the Hogyoku, he had to find a way. Then it came to him. Placing the orb between his index finger and thumb, the man looked down at the sleeping girl, the process of making a gigai almost starting.

'I have to do this. It's the only way to hide this monstrosity now the seal is gone. Just make sure you don't lose it…Rukia.' Urahara said quietly before settling down to his gigai, the orb glowing under the shine of his light, sitting their innocently on his desk, the man unaware of the devastation his nights work was going to cause.

THE END

- My first ever oneshot guys! Be honest but be nice! Vote for this if you liked it =) Thank you!


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